. >>> right now president obama and the first lady en route to south africa for nelson mandela's memorial service scheduled for tomorrow. they left washington on "air force one" this morning along with former secretary of state hillary clinton and former president george w. bush and his wife laura. president bill clinton and jimmy carter traveling separately to the service. two lawmakers part of a delegation heading to the country, 22 house democrats as well as illinois republican and texas senator ted cruz. the memorial is expected to draw a who's who of leaders, david cameron, prince charles, afghanistan's hamid karzai and cuba's raul castro. joining me from south africa, nbc's ron allen. can you give me a sense of what it's like on the ground and the preparations that are under way. >> it's been an amazing few days since we've been here. in case you can't hear, it's raining, it's dark. there are still crowds out there chanting, choirs, is a mood of festivity, jubilation. also grief and mourning, but for the most part it's been a time of celebrating the life of nelson mandela. we've jus